Air-cushioning device



(N0 Model.)

t S. WHITLOCK.

AIR CUSHIONING DEVICE.

Patented Sept. 4

lllll Masses a N. PETERs PhalwLnho n h-r. Wanhingiun. 0,6.

UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

srunenswnirnoox, on NEW AvEmcoNNEc'ricU'r.

.AlR-CUSHIONING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,524, dated September 4, 1883.

Application filed May 7, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom itlmay concerni- Be it known that I, SrURGEs WHiTLocx, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Air-Springs; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connectionwith accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, and represents a longitudinal section through the several cylinders.

This invention relates to an improvement in air springs or cushions for mechanical purposes-such as used in printing-presses or like places where a cushion is desirable toease up on the termination of the recip rocating movement of parts of machinery.

In the usual construction such cushions consist of a cylinder closed at one end, having a piston or plunger fitting c'loselytherein, and

so that as the partto be cushioned approaches the termination of its movement it will compress the air in 'the cylinder between the piston or plunger and the head of the cylinder. In niany cases, in such cushions y it is desirable to vary the cushion accordingly as the machine runs faster or slower, or to make the cushion more or less elastic. In the usual construction the amount of cushion is limited to the cylinder itselfthat' is to say, the chamber between the end of the plunger and the head of the cylinder. If agreater amount of air is desired for cushioning, the plunger must be adjusted to stand at a greater distance from the head of the cylinder, or, if less, to stand the nearer the head of the cylinder.

The object of my inventionis to make the cushion adjustable outside the air-cylinder; and it consists in combining with the air or cushion cylinder one or more auxiliary cylinders or air-chambers communicating with the cushioned chamber in the cylinder, which communication may be shut off or opened. as desired, as more fully hereinafter described.

A represents a ,common air-cushion cylinder, having a head, B, atone end. The other end may be open, and withinthe cylinder is the plunger 0, fitting closely, but so as to be free to move therein, and against which the moving part of the machinery to be cushioncd will strike as it approaches the termi: nation pf its movement, and so as to force the plunger into the cylinder and compress the air between the plunger and the closed head of the cylinder, such compression of air forming the cushion.

E F-G are auxiliary air cylinders or chambers, which may be more or less in number and variable in size. From that part of the cylinder within which the cushioning is produced, preferably from the head end, a pipe,

H, extends, and into it the several auxiliary air-chambers E F G open, as shown, each in dependent of the other. Between the main cylinder and the firstcylinder is a cock, a, and between the auxiliary cylinders there is a like cock, b d. When all the cooks are open, the auxiliary chambers communicate with each other and with the main cylinder A. In that case the cushioning or compression of air produced by the plunger will be not only upon the airin the main cylinder,

but will extend to the air in the auxiliary chambers, thus increasing the amount of air the operator will add additional chambers ac cordingly, or vice versa.

The auxiliary chambers may be arranged at a distance from the main cylinder or in immediate connection therewith as, for in stance, they may be small cylinders surrounding the main cylinderit only being essential that they shall be in communication with the main cylinder and combined with the devices whereby such communication may be opened or cut off, accordingly as one or more of the auxiliary cylinders is required in nection with the main cylinder.

con-

I claim V, cylindersmay be opened to or cut off from the The herein-described improvement v inIairmain cylinder, as occasion requires, substancushions for mechanical purposes, consisting tially as described.

of the main cylinder and its plunger, com- STURGES WHITLOOK. 5 bined, with one or more auxiliary chambers Witnesses:

communicating with the main cylinder and JOHN E. EARLE, 1

cocks, whereby one or more of said-auxiliary J 0s. 0. EARLE. 

